BRIGGS, PHILIP [SSNE 7825]
Text source
Philip Briggs was an English trumpeter who entered Swedish service in 1591. He was hired for Duke Karl (later Karl IX of Sweden) Vasa's upcoming nuptials along with 5 other trumpeters and 6 players/musicians/entertainers. On Briggs' engagement at the Nykoping court in 1591 he was initially paid 20 daler, which ranked in the mid-range of payments made to the other 13 Englishmen. Briggs has also been described as a 'jester'. This could tie in with the fact that he was the only one of the English entertainers to accompany Duke Karl on his journey to Hegnetorp in August 1592 where the Duke had arranged to meet his bride Princess Christine of Holstein. Others had been sent on ahead(John Howse, Robert and John Vaughan, Richard Havill). In 1592 he received 110 daler (slightly more than each of the trumpeters) 3 mark and 2 1/2 ore in payment for his employment. He was noted to have bought a musket for 4 daler from the armourer Peter Krig. Briggs carried on in the Duke's service as it is noted that in 1593 he received 19 daler and 22 ore for the payment of clothes and cash. Briggs appears to have stayed on in Swedish service. He was involved in a wee stramash between certain members of the English-expatriate community in Stockholm in 1600 which resulted in several of them being summoned before the town court. The case was settled quickly and amicably.Erik Wikland, Elizabethan Players in Sweden 1591-2 &c. 2nd ed., (Stockholm: Almqvist&Wiksell, 1971), pp.42, 45, 49, 60, 71, 73-5, 78, 79, 93, 94, 109, 139, 144. Stockholmsstads Tänkeböcker, del III, ed. Folke Sleman (Stockholm: 1953), pp.93-4.
Service record
- SWEDEN, NYKOPING
- Arrived 1591-09-07, as TRUMPETER
- Departed 1600-12-31, as TRUMPETER
- Capacity TRUMPETER, JESTER, purpose ROYAL SERVICE, MUSICIAN, ENTERTAINER